Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to information handling systems and, more particularly, to thermoplastic composite materials for portable information handling system enclosures.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Advancements in packaging design have reduced both the weight and thickness of information handling systems. In particular, enclosure components included portable information handling systems, such as laptops, notebooks, and tablet form factors, are the object of efforts to reduce weight and thickness without compromising structural strength and, in particular, stiffness.
Conventional low-cost materials used for information handling system enclosures, such as for an outer shell for a portable information handling system, have typically included fiber-filled injection molded material, which becomes problematic as overall thickness of the enclosure parts becomes smaller. For example, as manufacturing yield rates fall with decreasing thickness, fiber-filled injection molded material may actually increase in cost, while providing strength and stiffness that is less than desired. Other materials, such as magnesium, may suffer from similar manufacturing yield rate issues at currently desired small thicknesses.
Other materials used for portable information handling system enclosures include composites made from woven carbon fiber, which provide high strength and stiffness, but have much higher costs. Thus, the use of woven carbon fiber composite materials for information handling system enclosures may be economically limited to particular applications where the higher cost is acceptable.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have cost-effective materials and corresponding manufacturing methods for information handling system enclosures that yield lightweight, thin yet sufficiently robust enclosure parts.